I thought that this podcast was super interesting because they talked about theories, we have talked about in class but brought new perspectives that I had never really thought of before. What stuck out most to me was the idea that the great man theory really shows what people back then decided was important to focus on and record, and when we are going back and looking at women in history, we pick out those who have very similar traits as to those men who have been revered in history. This then gives us a false impression that there are only a few numbers of women doing things in history and the women in the podcast were talking about how important it is for us to broaden our criteria. I think that the newer approach to history that they were talking about, history from below or a people’s history, is a way that could improve the way we look at women in history.
One thing that shocked me that I had not realized, was the fact that the great man theory and the sexism that comes along with it has impacted facts that the collective people consider hard science. They were talking about how Charles Darwin’s theories about sexual and natural selection have a lot of gender biases in them- being that Darwin referenced women as “skirts”. Even though people have discredited the great man theory and think that they do not let it influence them in any way, things like Charles Darwin’s theories are still playing right into the great man theory and how the public thinks of women. This makes me think that it will be very hard for the world to escape the impact of the great man theory. At the end of the podcast the interview with Marilyn Ogilvie gives me hope because she discusses how she basically created a history of women in science that was not available at that time; and hopefully more people like her will tell the unheard stories of important women.
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